Manual Flight - What's your thought?

Which do you prefer?

  • Manual Flight

    Votes: 23 65.7%

  • Automated Flight

    Votes: 11 31.4%
  • Total voters
    35
seagull said:
It is even worse than that. Actually, the BEA did a fairly good job on this report, but most of the HF aspects never made it to the media, and they missed other aspects. I started writing an article on this topic, I really should come back and finish it.
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Please do!
 
I've spent a lot of my flight hours hand-flying, so automation is welcome when it's available and it works. These days, I'll hand fly until there's no more major input required (i.e. cleared direct to fix 100 miles away) which tends to happen below 5000'.
 
z987k said:
Haha, we've got a 530 on top of a 430 with a 330 xponder all driving the 600 unit.(GDU620 and whatever they call the MFD.)
I like it. It's better than a second pilot.

Here's a pic of the 620.
297138_10102087645553390_1088895384_n.jpg


Oh, and ya, -10s FTW! Most of our stuff has -5's. The ones that do have -10s are just amazing.
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I want...
Well mostly I'm jealous of having 2 turbines out there on the wings. Though that's a fairly snazzy glass setup.
Also I'm fairly sure two of my old co-workers are in training at your shop...
 
Roger Roger said:
I want...
Well mostly I'm jealous of having 2 turbines out there on the wings. Though that's a fairly snazzy glass setup.
Also I'm fairly sure two of my old co-workers are in training at your shop...
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I'm fairly certain they are to. Talked to SH last night, I think he said your old CP is one of them.
 
Pretty much every departure we do out of ATL now is an RNAV departure, and they're "strongly recommending" that we use full automation for all RNAV departures. The feds have been taking even the slightest deviation off RNAV course very seriously. Outside of that, I typically let the airplane accelerate to 250 before engaging autoflight, because frankly, I can do it more smoothly than the automation with all of the configuration changes on departure. After stabilized at 250, the automation is usually smoother than any pilot could hope to be. The 717 has a great autopilot. I rarely turn off the autopilot on approach before 500 feet unless I'm doing a true visual approach. I'd rather be paying attention to where the traffic is, to be honest.

If I remember right, Boeing told AirTran that use of full automation saves 2% in fuel costs. That's a big deal. Flying around manually just for fun isn't worth the extra cost to the airline. When you spend billions every year on fuel, a 2% savings could be the difference between a big profit or a big loss.
 
Roger Roger said:
I want...
Well mostly I'm jealous of having 2 turbines out there on the wings. Though that's a fairly snazzy glass setup.
Also I'm fairly sure two of my old co-workers are in training at your shop...
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What kind of airplane is that to have that IAS at that altitude?
 
I glanced at that and the number did not want to compute, been too long I guess. That number would put me deep in the red stick shaker territory. I didn't even think that it might be a turboprop!
 
seagull said:
I glanced at that and the number did not want to compute, been too long I guess. That number would put me deep in the red stick shaker territory. I didn't even think that it might be a turboprop!
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Haha, do many swept wing jets hang out at FL230?
 
z987k said:
Haha, do many swept wing jets hang out at FL230?
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We transit all the time in the mid 20's on cross countries. Obviously the 30's are better for fuel consumption and potentially tailwinds, but non RVSM sometimes limits that (also having cabin pressure above 10k ft and needing to keep the mask on the entire time is not as fun when going from pt A to B at higher alt).

To the OP, I wouldn't say that "hand flying" on jet airways at altitude really is anything to get excited about. By the time you are a private pilot, you should know how to trim an airplane out to maintain altitude with hands off. Putting on pilot relief modes (ie autopilot) frees you up to break out charts, eat a sandwich, or just generally enjoy the ride. You are at cruising altitude at that point, and probably going hundreds of miles before even making the slightest turn. There have been many times when I have taken off, climbed to my final clearance alt, and basically flown 1000 nm direct. There just isn't anything cool or exciting about hand flying the jet at that point. I'd rather bust the breakfast burrito out of my helmet bag, and maybe take some pictures of cool clouds or something, and enjoy the sights which I normally don't have the time to do when flying a local area hop. Just a thought. There is a lot of misinformation out there about how automation basically renders the pilot useless, but I still hand fly all my approaches, and I still get plenty of stick time. Autopilot is a nice luxury used when you have the time and ability to kick back for a while. Maybe there are some differences between my experience (military aviation) and those in the commercial sector, but I'd guess hand flying isn't that rare in their world either.
 
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